Tag: politics

After a turn on stage as George III, the co-founder of the League is returning to horror to recreate Dracula for TV. What he finds ‘frightening and debilitating’ now, though, is leaving the EUMark Gatiss is recalling an early memory, rocking back and f…

After a turn on stage as George III, the co-founder of the League is returning to horror to recreate Dracula for TV. What he finds ‘frightening and debilitating’ now, though, is leaving the EUMark Gatiss is recalling an early memory, rocking back and f…

After a turn on stage as George III, the co-founder of the League is returning to horror to recreate Dracula for TV. What he finds ‘frightening and debilitating’ now, though, is leaving the EUMark Gatiss is recalling an early memory, rocking back and f…

You can tell it’s been two years since Nish Kumar’s last live show – as long as it’s possible, surely, for this most vociferous of comics to keep a lid on things. The first 10 minutes of It’s in Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves are like a dam bursting: he’s got so much to say about the state of our benighted nation, so many apoplectic opinions to advance. It’s a cracking opening, as the Mash Report man hurls himself at the government’s handling of Brexit (“an Ocean’s Eleven of rank incompetence”), the revelation that makes sense of Jacob Rees-Mogg, and the high British Asian vote to leave the EU.

On that latter topic, members of his own family aren’t spared, and if the punchlines here are more playground abuse than Shavian wit – well, Kumar’s bad temper is part of the joke. Most of the gig is delivered at a high pitch of dismay: we’re never far from the next screech of exasperation, at “random” airport bag checks on brown people, or at the post-Office career of Ricky Gervais.

If there’s one thing even the most stupid and bigoted of internet trolls may soon learn, it’s to be wary of getting into an argument with a funny Jewish guy on Twitter – particularly if that guy happens to be David Baddiel.

The multi-talented comedian and children’s novelist finds his constant battles with internet trolls on social media so amusing and illuminating that he is creating a new standup show to explore what provocative online conversations reveal about modern discourse.

I’ve got into online debates where people are being racist about Jews but don’t even understand they’re being racist

The whip-smart comic talks about mocking Piers Morgan and Donald Trump, mixing scorn with good cheer and moving from songs to satire

‘Determined cheerfulness is something I happen to do very well,” says Rachel Parris. If you’ve seen her live musical comedy shows, you won’t need telling: they present Parris as a wholesome West End Wendy forever on the verge of a nervous breakdown, performing songs that put a brave face on a chaotic life (The Gym Song) or – like her terrific X Factor spoof I’m Amazing – clothe sharp satire in faux-positivity.

No one who saw her excellent but unheralded stage shows ever doubted Parris’s talent, but it’s a big surprise that she’s now found her mainstream niche in political satire. Her whip-smart work on the BBC show The Mash Report has been adored – and deplored – by tens of millions, and she’s become one of the most prominent political comics in the UK and beyond.

The whip-smart comic talks about mocking Piers Morgan and Donald Trump, mixing scorn with good cheer and moving from songs to satire

‘Determined cheerfulness is something I happen to do very well,” says Rachel Parris. If you’ve seen her live musical comedy shows, you won’t need telling: they present Parris as a wholesome West End Wendy forever on the verge of a nervous breakdown, performing songs that put a brave face on a chaotic life (The Gym Song) or – like her terrific X Factor spoof I’m Amazing – clothe sharp satire in faux-positivity.

No one who saw her excellent but unheralded stage shows ever doubted Parris’s talent, but it’s a big surprise that she’s now found her mainstream niche in political satire. Her whip-smart work on the BBC show The Mash Report has been adored – and deplored – by tens of millions, and she’s become one of the most prominent political comics in the UK and beyond.

In case you missed it, VICE News shipped up to Boston this spring to talk to bookers for three local colleges — Emerson, Simmons and Lesley — about how they decide which comedians to bring to campus, and what kind of expectations they lay down for the stand-ups. It also features some nice moments with […]

Earlier this year, we announced that Splitsider was acquired by Vulture and that we were working together to launch a new and expanded comedy section on Vulture later this month. Ahead of our big move, we asked the President of Comedy Nerds himself, @TrumpComedyNerd, to release an official statement reflecting on Splitsider’s eight years covering comedy on […]